We aim to design, front-end and backend end development, financial models and dashboards to track performance of the new feature in 3 months. We believe this is achievable within 2-3 months given our more than a decade experience in agile software methodologies, developing and deploying multicountry fintech products and projects in the inclusive fintech space by leveraging blockchain technology.

The product development phase will follow the stages 

1. Research and Design Phase

Objective: To develop a simple intuitive UI/UX design that adheres to brand colors, ease of use. 

Outcome: A simple and user-friendly UI/UX prototype that enhances usability and reflects the brand's identity. 

How to measure completion: Figma UI/UX design assets

Tasks

• Developing product requirements documentation and scope; 
• Developing epics and user stories; 
• Developing wireframes of initial design;  
• Conduct usability testing internally and with end users to gather feedback; 
• Incorporate feedback from internal and end users;
• Develop final UI and UX designs incorporating feedback from internal and end users.

Estimated completion date: 14 days

Budget: $8,900

Budget Justification:

The budget will be used to pay for a consultant designer and the associated design expenses such as gathering and evaluating the product requirements, in collaboration with product managers and engineers, designing graphic user interface elements and wireframes, as well as testing with end users in the field to ensure the UI/UX designs are in line with the UI/UX design best practices. 

2. Front end Development phase

Objective: To translate figma designs to a responsive, consistent front end code for the web app. 

Outcome: A UI that offers an exceptional user experience through responsiveness, performance and an intuitive design in line with company’s brand colors, 

How to measure completion: Video of a responsive UI in line with figma UI/UX design assets. 

Tasks

• Translate figma designs to responsive front end code;
• Optimizing the web app for fast responsiveness and speed; 
• Support the back-end developers with coding and troubleshooting; 
• Develop API endpoints for communication with the backend; 
• Implement secure session management. 

Estimated completion date: 21 days

Budget: $14,500 

Budget Justification:

The budget will cover time and resources for a front end developer. Some of the resources will include development tools, frameworks, testing tools, server costs and post deployment maintenance costs. 

3. Backend Development Phase

Objective: To build the backed infrastructure that will integrate the front end code, the backend code with the card processor service and the Stellar blockchain network. 

Outcome: A robust backend infrastructure that seamlessly integrates the frontend, backend code with card processor services and the Stellar blockchain networks we have in the platform.

How to measure completion: Backend development and Integration 

Tasks

• Develop card issuance APIs that will create, issue, manage activation and deactivation of virtual cards as well as APIs to limit usage and view usage history; 
• Develop APIs that will authorize and settle transactions;
• Develop frontend API integrations that will display key virtual card information; 
• Develop Pretium backend APIs that will integrate Pretium wallet with the card processor; 
• Develop backend APIs that will integrate Stellar blockchain network with the card processor; 
• Implement secure session management; 
• Implement notifications and email alerts for virtual card creation, payment notifications. 

Estimated completion date: 30 days

Budget: $17,500

Budget Justification:

The budget will cover time and resources for the backend developer. Some of the resources will include server costs, cloud services costs, database services costs, dev tools and softwares. 

4. Quality Assurance and Audit 

Objective: To ensure the highest standards of reliability, security, compliance and quality as well as identify and rectify any vulnerabilities, defects and non-compliance issues. 

Outcome: A product that is free of bugs, inconsistencies and meets the required benchmarks for scalability, speed and reliability. Additionally, the product should comply with relevant regulations and standards. 

How to measure completion:  Quality Assurance and Audit Report

Tasks

• Engage an external QA to develop and conduct tests covering functional, performance, security, usability tests, API integrations, backend infrastructure, wallet and payment infrastructure;
• Develop QA and audit report;
• Review and implement QA report as advised by the external QA engineer.

Estimated completion date: 7 days

Budget: $4,500

Budget Justification:

The budget will cover time and testing resources of the external QA engineer. 

5. Marketing and Communication Plan

Objective: To increase brand awareness of the new product educate our customers on the benefits of the product and strengthen our brand positioning

Outcome: To attract new customers that have previously not used our product died to the lack of integration with mainstream financial systems, create new sources of revenue and offer a competitive edge 

How to measure completion 1:  Blog announcing launch of product

How to measure completion 2: A frequently asked questions (FAQ)

How to measure completion 3: One month social media calendar content including design assets. 

Tasks

• Develop an article announcing the launch of the product; 
• Develop a list of FAQs; 
• Develop a step by step ‘How To’ short articles; 
• Design social media graphics that will accompany the launch of the product;
• Develop a one month social media calendar content, short LinkedIn and Twitter posts with accompanying graphics

Estimated completion date: 14 days

Budget: $7,200

Budget Justification:

The budget will cover development of digital assets costs, content development costs, copywriting development and review costs and social media ads.

Previous awarded project

Pretium Finance - 10K USD

Deliverables of previous awarded submission

1/ Our first deliverable was to design mockup layouts for Stellar integration, implement on our platform, perform internal review and collect feedback. We created mockups designed to guide us during the implementation phase and can be accessed at integration designs. Guided by mockup designs we have implemented within our web application. To access the implementation: Sign up - Pretium.Finance

2/  Our second deliverable was to create backend APIs that enable creation of Stellar account, can accept and send XLM or USDC, capability to establish trustline and link them with our cross-border and utility services protocol. We have created our backend APIs to enable functions such  as account creation, making payment, issuing assets on the network and establishing trustlines. Additionally, our users are able to pay for utility services or make cross-border payments using Stellar USDC. To access the implementation: Sign up - Pretium.Finance

Overview

Overall we’re a payment platform that empowers individuals and businesses to accept cross-border payments across Africa and enables crypto holders to pay for utility services and settle bills using cryptocurrencies. We are in operation in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria and South Africa.

On this project, we are developing a stablecoin-funded virtual debit card designed to facilitate online shopping, manage recurring subscription services, and handle other bill payments not currently supported by local payments integrations we have done in countries in operation.

Problem

The African ecosystem is ripe for disruption by blockchain technology. However, a major barrier to widespread adoption is its limited integration into the financial value chain such as the banking infrastructure, making it difficult to use for everyday purchases.

To further ease online payments and make it easier for our end users to settle bills using stablecoins, we aim to integrate the Pretium wallet, with a card processor and the Stellar blockchain network to allow users to spend their stablecoins via a virtual debit card to pay for their utility bills as well as settle their day to day purchases. This initiative enables users to easily make international online purchases, pay for subscriptions, and more.

The goal of applying for the community fund is to fund our integration of the mainstream financial institutions, specifically the banking infrastructure and the Stellar ecosystem. We are currently seeking to close our first pre-seed round of investment of $100K in Q2-2024.

However, here are the next deliverables on our Roadmap to complete the development of the project: 

Product Development and Optimization ($40,000)

Integration of additional features and functionalities to meet market demands.

Ongoing optimization and bug fixes to maintain a high-quality product.

Security Audits and Compliance ($20,000)

Conducting thorough security audits to identify and address potential vulnerabilities.

Ensuring compliance with relevant regulatory standards and protocols.

Marketing and Community Outreach ($40,000)

Launching targeted marketing campaigns to promote awareness and user adoption.

Engaging in community outreach programs to build a strong user base.

Collaborating with influencers and key stakeholders to expand our market presence.

Derrick Bundi (CEO / CTO)

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derrick-bundi

Twitter: https://twitter.com/_derrickbundi

Discord: derrickbundi

Skills: Blockchain Developer  | Solidity | Node JS | Laravel | Vue | Elixir | Jquery | Bootstrap | Css & Html

Prior Experience

Derrick boosts over 4 years of experience in developing financial service tools that have fueled the growth of multiple financial startups. These tools have played a pivotal role in enhancing financial inclusion across sub-saharan Africa.

Faith Kinyua (Chief Financial Officer)

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/faith-kinyua-0aa046190/

Skills: Financial Analyst | Legal Compliance | Risk Management

Discord: faithkinyua_

Prior Experience

Faith brings a wealth of experience in financial analysis and risk management boosting over 4 years of experience. With a keen eye for detail and a proactive approach, she excels in assessing creditworthiness, negotiating terms, and ensuring compliance. She has fuelled growth of multiple financial service companies in Kenya and beyond.

Chris Meme (Chief Product Officer)

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-m-a05a07134/

Skills: Product Management

Discord: krismeme

Prior Experience

Chris is a well-versed product and project management professional with 8 years in project management and at least 4 years leading product development across fintech and healthtech products. He has spearheaded digital financial services products and healthtech products from behavioural research and design to deployment and post-deployment monitoring in Kenya and across Africa through the research & tool design, data reporting, risk management, budget formulation and expense tracking. He is leveraging the same skills in building Pretium Finance.
 

Why we are set for success

Our team is composed of a generalist who doubles as a product manager, a finance expert and a blockchain developer. Chris has close to decade experience in behavioral research, market research and will lead the research, SWOT analysis, market and partner research of this new product. In addition, he will be responsible for leading Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), developing epics, user stories and acceptance criteria, user test scenarios and support development of social media content. In the business side of things, Chris will also support stakeholder management of the key partners, budgeting and support development of key metrics that will be used to track the performance of the product. 

Faith will be incharge of the financial modeling of the new product, budgeting and expense tracking. In collaboration with Chris, she will develop some key metrics  that we will use to track the performance of the product and project so that we can iterate the product and meet all the project objectives. 

Derrick, a full stack software engineer and blockchain developer will be incharge of the architecture design including database design, backend API development, frontend development, testing, deployment and maintenance of the product.

✓ To date we have signed up 240,069 users with 20% to 30% using our product on a monthly basis.

✓ Since launch from September 2023:

1. We have processed above $500,000 cross-border payments.
2. Sold above $50,000 on-chain utility services including airtime, mobile data, electricity, shopping and paying for groceries [MPESA - Kenya].

✓ We have launched our product in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa and Nigeria